Chin 311 Spring 2004 Syllabus&Schedule 01-15-04d3

George Mason University
Department of Modern & Classical Languages

Spring 2004: CHINESE 311 – Modern Chinese Literature in Translation

Class Meeting Time:      T R 1:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Class Meeting Place:     Thompson Hall 227
Instructor:                     Alexandra R. Wagner
Office Location:            Thompson Hall 235-I
Office Hours:                Fridays 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. or by appointment
Office Phone:                (703) 993-1823
E-mail:                          awagner2@gmu.edu

Course Description/ Objectives
This course is an introduction to Chinese literature of the twentieth century. No prior knowledge of Chinese history, culture, literature, or the Chinese language is required. All readings and class discussions are in English. Brief lectures by the instructor will provide the historical and cultural background knowledge necessary to maximize understanding, discussion, and assessment of the assigned readings. Literary analysis will focus on subjects, themes, narrative structure and voice, as well as form, language, and style of a variety of works, mainly short stories and novellas. Course and syllabus are designed to allow students to acquire a sense for the distinctiveness of an individual author's work, while offering a perspective on the literary-historical, thematic, and critical issues that shaped the development of modern Chinese literature. In particular, we will focus on notions of distinctiveness, innovation, and modernity discernible in the various literary works.

Course objectives:
1) To introduce a variety of literary texts by modern Chinese writers and to explore the breadth of those writings from artistic and historical perspectives
2) To enable students to analyze and discuss literary texts by familiarizing them with basic approaches and concepts used in literary study
3) To acquaint students with some of the major critical issues which have shaped the evolution of modern Chinese literature and its study

Required Books (available at the GMU Bookstore)
Modern Chinese Stories and Novellas, 1919-1949. Eds. Joseph S.M. Lau, C.T. Hsia, and Leo Ou-fan Lee. Modern Asian Literature Series. New York: Columbia University Press, 1981.

The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature. Eds. Joseph S.M. Lau and Howard Goldblatt. Modern Asian Literature Series. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.

Recommended Reading
Some useful sources for additional readings on modern Chinese history, literature, and culture:
Kirk Denton, ed., Modern Chinese Literary Thought: Writings on Literature, 1893-1945. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1996.
Bonnie S. McDougall and Kam Louie, The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.
C.T. Hsia, A History of Modern Chinese Fiction. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971.

Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China. New York: Norton Press, 1990.
-------- , The Gate of Heavenly Peace. New York: Penguin Books, 1982.

Course Requirements
Regular attendance, thorough preparation of reading and writing assignments, participation in classroom discussions, exercises, and the upkeep of a reading response journal are required to obtain a satisfactory grade. Students are expected to attend all classes and to be on time. No exceptions will be made. Students are strongly encouraged to strengthen their background knowledge of what shaped the evolution of modern Chinese literature through the suggested recommended readings. For the midterm, each student is required to write a literary analysis (6-8 pages, 12 point font, 1½ spaced) on a work covered in class. Students have to submit in advance a proposal outlining their choice of a paper topic and their approach to discussing it. At the end of the semester, students have to submit a review-type piece of writing in which they are asked to summarize and comment on the literature and its development they have studied. This piece should be approximately 4 pages long (12 point font, 1½ spaced). The final exam is an in-class essay exam.

1. Classroom attendance and participation in discussions:
Students are expected to attend all sessions except in case of emergencies. The student has to inform the instructor in a timely fashion of the reasons for his or her absence. Participation includes the thorough and on-time preparation of all reading and writing assignments, willing participation in classroom discussions and other classroom exercises, and the completion of weekly short quizzes on material covered in the class lectures.

2. Reading response journal:
Students are required to keep a reading response journal, in which they should a) consider the texts’ literary elements, such as language, style, form, narrative strategy, narrative voice, and b) record their reactions, thoughts, and questions regarding the texts, their contents, themes, purpose, and realization thereof. In order to guide students’ responses, the instructor might suggest more specific questions the student should consider when reading the assigned texts. Keeping a response journal is beneficial to the reading process as well as to articulating thoughts and reactions to the text. It also provides a solid basis for productive classroom discussions. At the beginning of each session, one copy of the journal's entry should be submitted to the instructor. The entry should reveal the student's familiarity with the text and a thorough and analytical contemplation of at least some of its aspects.
Here are some general categories students may consider while reading the primary texts and when noting down responses after finishing the readings. These categories are meant to help articulate and organize reading responses. Students do not have to limit themselves to these categories:
1) purpose and meaning
2) language and style
3) narrative strategy and structure or composition
4) narrative voice
5) your questions about the text
Another approach to a response could be to focus on and discuss one passage, paragraph, or sentence that particularly draws the reader's attention (whether in a positive or negative way).
The reading response should be at least one page long. Students should be able to illustrate all their observations and comments with examples.

3. Honor Code. The George Mason University Honor Code is in effect throughout the entire duration of the course and applies to all course work carried out inside and outside the classroom. It is the responsibility of each student to be familiar with the GMU Honor System and Code as laid out in the Student Handbook.
Please refer to http://www.gmu.edu/mlstudents/handbook/honor.html for detailed information.

Weekly Routine
The class meets twice a week. During the first part of each session the instructor will give brief lectures to provide the historical and critical context to the readings we will discuss in the second part of the session. Students’ responses and comments on the readings noted in their response journal serve as the basis for discussion. A weekly quiz on the content of the lectures will be conducted by email.

Grades
Final grades are composed as follows:

Class Attendance,
Preparation & Participation ----- 20 %
Reading Response Journals ----- 15 %
Weekly Quizzes ---------------- 10 %
Midterm Paper ----------------- 20 %
End of Semester Review Paper -- 15 %
Final Exam ---------------------- 20 %

Session Schedule
Abbreviations: SN = Modern Chinese Stories and Novellas
CA = Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature

Date	Class	Assignments for next session:
Week 1 Tue, January 20	Introduction: - Course and Syllabus - Some general remarks about Chinese language and literature - What is "modern" literature? What is "Chinese" literature?	Read and prepare for discussion: SN: "Introduction" CA: "Introduction"
Thur, January 22	- The late-Qing and early Republican literary scene: The situation of language, literature, and culture leading up to the "Literary Revolution" (Liang Qichao, Hu Shi)	Read and prepare for discussion: CA: Lu Xun, Preface to the First Collection of Short Stories, Call to Arms (1922); "A Madman's Diary" (1918)
Week 2 Tue, January 27	- The "Literary Revolution" and May Fourth period (1915-1925) - Lu Xun and the beginning of modern Chinese literature	Read and prepare for discussion: SN: Lu Hsün, "K'ung I-chi" (1919); "The New Year's Sacrifice" (1924)
Thur, January 29	- Lu Xun cont'd - Literary groups and societies in the May Fourth period - humanism, realism, romanticism - Writers, groups, subjects, and themes	Read and prepare for discussion: SN: Yeh Shao-chün, "Rice" (1921) CA: Ye Shaojun, "A Posthumous Son" (1926) SN: Yü Ta-fu, "Sinking" (1921)
Week 3 Tue, February 3	- Literary groups and societies I: The Literary Association (Wenxue yanjiu hui) and Short Story Monthly (Xiaoshuo yuebao) - Humanism and literature, the connection between literature and life - The Creation Society (Chuangzao she) - Romanticism and Exultation of the Self - Yu Dafu	Read and prepare for discussion: CA: Xu Zhimo, "Second Farewell to Cambridge" (1925); "Love's Inspiration" (1930); "Chance" (1926); Wen Yiduo, "Dead Water" (1926); "One Sentence" (1927); "Prayer" (1927)
Thur, February 5	- Literary Groups and Societies II: - The Creation Society (Chuangzao she) cont'd - The Crescent Moon Society - "anglo-american" influences - Xu Zhimo, Wen Yiduo	Read and prepare for discussion: On reserve: - Ding Ling, Miss Sophia's Diary (1928) - SN: Ling Shuhua, "Embroidered Pillows" (1925); "The Night of Midautumn Festival" (1928)
Week 4 Tue, February 10	- Women and May Fourth: Ding Ling - psychological portrait of a young woman in Miss Sophia's Diary - Ling Shuhua - Women's fate in a transitional period	Read and prepare for discussion: SN: Shen Ts'ung-wen, "Hsiao-hsiao" (1929); "The Lamp" (1930)
Thur, February 12	- Regionalism and the lyrical mode: Shen Congwen	Read and prepare for discussion: CA: Shi Zhecun, "One Evening in the Rainy Season" (1929); Zhang Ailing, "Sealed Off" (1943); Dai Wangshu, "Rainy Alley" (1928); Li Jinfa, "Woman Abandoned" (1935)
Week 5 Tue, February 17	- Modernist literature - Literature of the metropolis: Shanghai - An alternative agenda: Fragmentation of the subject	Read and prepare for discussion: SN: Mao Tun, "Spring Silkworms" (1932)
Thur, February 19	- the late 1920s and early 1930s: "Revolutionary literature" vs. "May Fourth individualism" - the rise of the Communist Party - the Chinese League of Left-Wing Writers - literature and social criticism - Mao Dun	Read and prepare for discussion: SN: Wu Tsu-hsiang, "Young Master Gets His Tonic" (1932); SN: Chang T'ien-i, "The Bulwark" (1936); CA: Lao She, "An Old and Established Name" (1936)
Week 6 Tue, February 24	- (Comic) Satire, Irony, Humor in the literature of the 1930s - Indictment of social injustice and human cruelty - national crisis and the war against Japan, 1937-1945	Read and prepare for discussion: SN: Ting Ling, "When I Was in Hsia Village" (1940); "In the Hospital" (1941)
Thur, February 26	- Yan'an - leftist writers of the 1930s and 1940s: Ding Ling revisited	Read and prepare for discussion: SN: Chang Ai-ling, The Golden Cangue (1943)
Week 7 Tue, March 2	- Zhang Ailing (Eileen Chang) and her fiction - narrative technique and sensibility in Zhang Ailing's writings - the recent popularity of Zhang Ailing	Read and prepare for discussion: CA: Ai Qing, "Snow Falls on China's Land" (1937); "The North" (1938); Dai Wangshu, "Written on a Prison Wall" (1942); "With My Injured Hand" (1942)
Thur, March 4	- Patriotism in literature - a note on popular literature in the first half of the twentieth century	Read and prepare for discussion: On reserve: - Xia Yan, Under Shanghai Eaves (1937)
Week 8 March 7 - March 14	SPRING BREAK
Week 9 Tue, March 16	Midterm paper due! (bring to class) - Modern Chinese drama: war, ideology, and the people - social and political upheaval on stage	Read and prepare for discussion: SN: Chao Shu-li, "Lucky" (1947)
Thur, March 18	- return to traditional story-telling techniques and writings about life of the peasants	Read and prepare for discussion: On Reserve: - Excerpt from Ai Wu, Steeled and Tempered (1958)
Week 10 Tue, March 23	Literature after 1949: Socialist Realism	Read and prepare for discussion: On Reserve: - Wang Meng, "A Young Man Arrives at the Organization Department" (1956)
Thur, March 25	- Hundred Flowers Movement and Anti-Rightist Campaign (1957-58)	Read and prepare for discussion: CA: Chen Ruoxi, "The Tunnel" (1978); Wen Jieruo, "Living Hell" (1990); On Reserve: - Zheng Yi, "Maple" (1979)
Week 11 Tue, March 30	The Cultural Revolution (1966-76)	Read and prepare for discussion: CA: poems by Bei Dao (pp.569-71), Shu Ting (pp. 572-74), Yang Lian (pp. 577-579), Gu Cheng (pp.580-81)
Thur, April 1	Post-Mao Literature: - Scars and Literature of the New Period - Democracy Wall and "Obscure Poetry" (Menglong shi)	Read and prepare for discussion: CA: Mo Yan, "Autumn Waters" (1985); Han Shaogong, "The Leader's Demise" (1992); Liu Heng, "Dog Shit Food" (1986)
Week 12 Tue, April 6	- Realism; Search for Roots; Magic Realism	Read and prepare for discussion: CA: Bai Xianyong, "Winter Nights" (1970); Zhu Xining, "Molten Iron" (1961); Wang Zhenhe, "An Oxcart for a Dowry" (1967)
Thur, April 8	Literature from Taiwan (1949-1976)	Read and prepare for discussion: CA: Zhu Tianwen, "Fin de Siècle Splendor" (1990); Yuan Qiongqiong, "Tales of Taipei" (1988); Zhang Dachun, "Lucky Worries About His Country" (1987)
Week 13 Tue, April 13	Literature from Taiwan (since 1976)	Read and prepare for discussion: On reserve: - Excerpt from Xi Xi, My City
Thur, April 15	Literature from Hong Kong	Read and prepare for discussion: CA: Can Xue, "Hut on the Mountain" (1985); Yu Hua, "On the Road at Eighteen" (1986); Su Tong, "Escape" (1991)
Week 14 Tue, April 20	- Avant-garde literature - note on popular literature	Read and prepare for discussion: Review
Thur, April 22	- Final discussion
Week 15 Tue, April 27	Review
Thur, April 29 Thursday, May 6 1:30 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.	Review or Snow day make-up day FINAL EXAM (in our classroom) *Have a great summer, and see you next year!*